“Constitutional crisis in the Czech Republic,” headlines Lidové Noviny: “For the first time in the history of the Czech Republic, the Constitutional Court has called off the early parliamentary elections – scheduled for 9 and 10 October,” reports Lidové Noviny. The court found for the plaintiff, an incumbent Socialist MP who contended that early elections would prevent him from completing his term of office. The decision to move the elections forwards was taken after the collapse in March of Mirek Topolánek’s conservative administration. “The judges wanted to prove they are above parliament,” the Prague daily quotes a specialist in constitutional law, who deems their ruling unconstitutional. As matters stand, predicts LN, the most likely solution is for parliament to amend the constitution over the weekend so the polling can go ahead in early November.
The leader of Greece’s leftist alliance SYRIZA is the new bright hope of Greek politics. Steering a course between pragmatism and the rhetoric of class warfare, he has unsettled Berlin, and not just those who back Angela Merkel's austerity policies. 
Europe’s economic woes have forced us to try to understand the secret Olympian world of global finance. But now that we pay more attention to bond yields and stability mechanisms, isn’t it clear that the experts up on their lofty peaks don’t know what’s going on either? 
This year’s Eurovision Song Contest is hosted by Azerbaijan, a country that is far from being a model democracy. An Estonian journalist takes a critical look at the deferential treatment enjoyed by the regime in Baku.